View Crest Lodge — Hotel in McKinleyville

I used to live at View Crest Lodge because the trailer spaces had electricity, sewage, water, a laundry room and were dirt cheap. I stayed there for five years because I quickly grew to love the place. After that, I lived in Eureka for a few years and Humboldt County lost much of its charm for me.

The owners of View Crest at the time, Bill and Geri Heyne, were very accommodating and kept the place in excellent condition. At first, my friends and I (I made friends with virtually all the other trailer-dwellers within minutes of arriving) lived in the campground in the redwood forest on the top tier of the property. There was little privacy, as redwood forests have little undergrowth, but we were all friends and we could assemble at the pond on the west side of that tier to socialize. Before long, Bill carved permanent trailer spaces into the second tier of the property, among dense alders and thick shrubs. After a considerable amount of work, we transformed the sloping long, narrow patch of mud behind our sites into a small brook with several petite pools connected by a series of tiny waterfalls. When we finished, it was lovely and serene. Best of all, on that tier we could no longer hear the traffic of logging trucks rumbling down Hwy 101 as we had on the top tier, but instead heard crashing waves and the mournful barks of sea lions and elephant seals that congregated at the bottom of the cliff across Patrick's Point Drive. From our driveway, we had a splendid ocean view and often spotted migrating whales. It was Heaven on Earth, which is why I sold my camper, bought a 35-foot trailer and spent the next four years there.

The bottom tier contains the cabins nicely described by Rufus below. I'll add these comments about the cabins: some are larger than others are, but they are all more than adequate, less than quaint but clean and functional and lay in one of the most peaceful settings you will ever find. In the spring, swallows nest in the low eves on the porches of several units, only inches above your head if you're standing on the porch--and they don't seem to mind people much. Deer, raccoons, skunks and foxes pass through the property regularly and on occasion, you may also see a bear or even a bobcat. Best of all, Larrupin Café is right down the street, and if you like great food in an elegant setting, you MUST eat there.

Trinidad itself is a quiet, cozy, tiny fishing village that is the definition of charm. At Katy's Smokehouse, you can buy smoked salmon, a variety of fresh fish and cheap Dungeness crabs right off the boats. Trinidad State Beach and Agate Beach are popular destinations for visitors, and locals with a propensity toward nudism gather at College Cove, located between the two (and very hard to find if you don't live there, which is just as the...

Unit 1: good: A spacious deck. You can see through the porch rails, so it seems open. The unit is elevated and offers good privacy. Spacious unit! Great photographic art! Everything you may want for your cooking needs (except salt and pepper which they gave us little packets when we asked them about that). Great towels, bath goods. Comfy bed except for the note below* about the bed arrangement. |Great grounds, we walked up to the RV park and looked around there, too. Helpful staff. They responded quickly when we complained about being unable to turn off the deck light (we wanted to sit out at night). It turned out all the other units’ lights kind of shine into the night, so star gazing was out. Brand new shower, sink, faucets. The heater works super-fast!| Bad: *Unit 1 has only 1 very small side table/nightstand with a lamp next to the King bed. The person on the other side has no nightstand or lamp. The wall side of bed is hard to get past- it’s very close to the wall. The pillows are too soft for sitting up in bed to read. They use lower quality toilet paper and tissues.||On our second stay, we had Unit 2: |Good: Agan, great photographic art! The bed-side tables were large and there were lights on both sides of the bed. We didn’t use the kitchen so, no comment on that. We were able to unscrew the deck light for the night (but alas, it was cloudy so we couldn’t see the stars!). We liked the kitchen bar set up as our eating and board game playing area. The bench in bathroom was convenient for storing our suitcase.||Bad: The deck has low solid fencing so you cannot see the ocean when sitting on their low chairs. The shower had poor pressure and leaked after shut-off. I guess it’s nice to offer coffee in the unit but it was with a Keurig machine, which is very bad for the environment. Unit 1 needs shelf in shower for soap, OR, putting refillable liquid soap in shower would be great! The small containers of shampoo, etc. were nice, but not earth friendly. The light on nightstand awkward to turn on and off. I would like cast iron ware instead of the non-stick stuff. ||They leave a new sponge or each guest at check in. The dish soap has a super strong smell, YUCK! Their free breakfast is not good for vegans…or people who like to eat healthy.||It would be nice to have an instruction book inside the unit so you know how to operate a gas stove, the fireplace, etc. In the book it would be really nice if they also listed local businesses and...

Overall a nice stay in the large family cabin with 4 adults for a gals hiking trip. The good - convenient location, spacious clean cabin, nice staff, quiet location and woodsy rustic setting. The gas fireplace in our cabin was a welcome touch that we used in the chilly evenings. Cute little patio off the back of our cabin with a picnic table and beautiful flowering things.

The could-be-better - now two years post-COVID, guests expect some sort of regular room service. After check-in, not a single soul checked on us to see if we needed anything. Rooms are not serviced daily. For a four day stay in the Redwoods (all outdoorsy dirt-attracting adventures), I'd appreciate a tidy up and floor sweep at some point.

In lieu of the breakfast room the hotel appears to have used in the past, you choose a coffee/tea + bagel/granola bar type item each morning on an order sheet and they place it on your door each evening for the next day. They got our order correct each day and were always timely leaving it for us in the evenings. :)

Overall the cabin was sparse on stocked items - same breakfast request form lets you request other supplies - and for us, 4 adults for several days, of course we needed extra toilet papers for the two bathrooms, Kleenex, paper towels, fresh towels, trash emptied etc... For the $1,200 rate we paid, guests really shouldn't have to ask for toilet paper every day... Kitchen has no basics like spices/cooking spray etc... so if you like to cook breakfast or dinners, plan accordingly; pretty sparse for being ready to cook, (but the Headies pizza place in Trinidad is fantastic and there's a great grocery next door to the pizza place we picked up some eggs and bacon to go with our bagels).

Beds comfy overall. Like a bizarre game of whack-a-mole, the fitted sheet on the king bed with topper is way too small and literally pops off immediately upon getting in bed. We fought with it for the entire stay so basically slept on the mattress cover with the fitted sheet wadded up under us. At least it provided some comic relief re-tucking the corners several times a night.

Again, overall, a decent stay; the cabin did its job and I'd recommend and stay again. I just really would have appreciated more attention to proactively restocking our cabin and service. A quick peek in and a few minutes spent restocking and tidying up each day while we were out would have gone a LONG way in my overall impression and value...